German freighter conversion company Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW) has redelivered the first of 30 Airbus A330 passenger-to-freighter (P2F) converted aircraft to Air Transport Services Group (ATSG).
US-headquartered ATSG will pass the A330P2F to its Türkiye-based customer, ULS Airlines Cargo. The A330P2F was converted at EFW's facilities in Dresden.
In addition to conversions in Dresden, other conversions for ATSG are being carried out at EFW’s partner Turkish Technic in Istanbul and in China.
ATSG committed to a total of 29 A330P2F conversion slots with EFW in March 2022, but this number was subsequently upped to 30.
Todd France, chief commercial officer of ATSG, said: “The delivery of our first A330 passenger-to-freighter conversion marks a defining moment in our journey to reshape the future of global air cargo.
"As the first of 30 conversions, this aircraft represents our commitment to innovation and competitiveness in growing e-commerce markets around the globe.
"We do not want to just meet demand for capacity - we want to ensure we remain a leading lessor of freighter aircraft."
Lee London, EFW's senior vice president sales & marketing, added: “We are excited about this first A330 freighter aircraft that ATSG provides to ULS Airlines Cargo.
EFW's A330P2F programme comes with two variants – the A330-200P2F and A330-300P2F.
The A330-200P2F can carry a gross payload of up to 60 tons of weight to over 7,700 km, while the larger A330-300P2F can carry a gross payload of up to 62 tons and a containerised volume of up to ~18.581ft3 (~526m3).
Last month, EFW signed an agreement with Confity Capital Partners, a UAE-based growth equity and investment firm, for multiple A330P2Fs.
DHL Express was the launch customer for EFW’s A330-300P2F programme.
Aside from DHL and Confity, a number of other companies have taken delivery of A330P2F aircraft from EFW.
Australian airline Qantas took delivery of its second A330-200P2F aircraft in December 2023, while Air China Cargo received the first of eight A330P2Fs at the end of 2023.
And in October 2023, Amazon Air undertook the “first in-service flight” with the first of 10 EFW-converted A330-300P2Fs that it had leased for operation by Hawaiian Airlines.
